Tom Glasgow: Avoid stewing over your tomatoes

Continuing from last time, tomato plants have now found their way into local garden centers, and many Craven County residents are enthused about getting their summer gardens off to an early start. As noted previously, there is some risk involved in planting this early, so keep an eye on the weather. If temperatures are projec...

Continuing from last time, tomato plants have now found their way into local garden centers, and many Craven County residents are enthused about getting their summer gardens off to an early start. As noted previously, there is some risk involved in planting this early, so keep an eye on the weather. If temperatures are projected to be in the low 40s or below, it would be wise to protect the plants, or bring them into a garage or porch if they’re in containers.

The sheer number of tomato varieties available to the gardening public can be overwhelming when you’re trying to decide what to plant, or what to recommend to others. In checking with a couple of my Extension colleagues recently, I did receive strong endorsements for the cherry type Super Sweet 100, and cherry tomatoes in general. That’s not to imply there aren’t dozens of other good choices out there.

Disease resistance can certainly be a part of your decision making process. For example, it’s hard to know whether or not we’ll have a bad year with Tomato Spotted Wilt (TSW), but it’s always wise for tomato enthusiasts to include some resistant plants in the garden. Current options include Fletcher, Amelia, Crista and Primo Red, but there are a number of others. If you love heirloom tomatoes, consider grafted heirlooms for resistance to nematodes or bacterial wilt.

The summer snowflakes (Leucojum aestivum) in my home landscape have been blooming for a few weeks now, providing a nice contrast to the daffodils. Daffodils get started earlier, but there is quite a bit of overlap with summer snowflake, and together these are two of the very best low maintenance perennials available to us for winter and early spring color.

The designation “summer snowflake” may seem to be a bit of horticultural false advertising, but it does help in differentiating this species from the more familiar snowdrop (Galanthus), which is not as heat tolerant and therefore not as good a choice for Eastern NC.

Summer snowflake is native to central and southern Europe. Along with daffodils and other “spring-flowering” bulbs, it should be planted around the end of November for best results in our part of the state. If you haven’t grown summer snowflake in the past but do enjoy trying new things from time to time, make this one a priority for the fall planting season.

Craven County Extension Master Gardeners, local vendors, the Family History Society of ENC and the New Bern Appearance Commission are presenting Plants in the Park at the Heritage Park, 300 Pollock Street, today until 4 p.m. Stop by and visit if you’re in the area. While you’re out and about, check your favorite garden center for some bok choi starts. Master Gardeners from our demonstration vegetable garden tell me that now is a good time to plant bok choi, and suggest that floating row covers can reduce damage from any late frosts that come along. Just be sure to pull the covers back if we get into unseasonably warm weather.

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Tom Glasgow is the Craven County Extension director. Contact him at tom_glasgow@ncsu.edu.